1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to the field of electrical devices, and in particular, to a control unit for managing the usage of electrical devices, such as televisions, computer monitors, video game systems, etc.
2. Statement of the Problem
In the current technological era, children use electrical devices on a daily basis potentially for hours. Children might watch television from the time they get home after school until they go to bed. Teenagers may surf the Internet or exchange emails for hours on a nightly basis. Parents struggle with how to limit the time their children use these and other electrical devices.
Present control units have been developed to control the time a child may spend watching television. The present control units are external devices that control the AC power to a television. A user, such as a child, enters a special code or number into the control unit and the control unit decrements time from the user's account when the television is on. When the time in the user's account is depleted, the control unit interrupts power to the television and the television cannot be viewed. Present control units such as this are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,231,310 and 5,331,353.
There are many drawbacks to the present control units. The present control units do not provide protection mechanisms for the electrical devices with which they connect. For instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,331,353, the control unit stops decrementing from a user's account when the electrical device is shut off. A user may then shut a television off during commercials to avoid debiting of their account during those commercials. Turning a television on and off in such a manner can damage a television over time, especially large projection televisions. The present control units are also difficult to use and are substantially inflexible as to how time is added to or decremented from the user's account. It would be desirable to have an improved control unit.